Sunglass-Fi? - Page 15

Pic of the ones i have. Also have the fire lenses both in polarized. I have a pair of half jacket i wear when im gonna get sweaty the Jul's have to stay clean.

Oakleys really aren't that overpriced. You'd be hard pressed to find people here that would recommend Bose headphones to you (on that note). I'd rather compare them to Sennheiser.

Regardless, Oakley Gascans look like a good fit, IDK too much about that style in other brands.

It's not fair to compare Oakley to Bose, as Oakley does make some decent quality lenses. My complaint with Oakley is that a lot of their models aren't polarized, which is absolutely dangerous and potentially very harmful to the eye because the eye's natural tendency to squint and protect itself is removed when wearing dark sunglasses. They still have too juvenile-looking designs (no offense guys, this is just my opinion) that should only be seen on kids and clueless middle-aged rednecks these days. And they're freaking expensive for that kind of quality and design, to boot. If you want good looking with better lenses, look at the various Costas, or better yet, Maui Jims (my fave for any reasonable amount of $$$).

You're in a unique situation, though...and you have to buy something shatterproof created for your application. In your case, the number of choices you have is reduced. I would dig around the major sunglass companies for models built with motorcyclists in mind. Just so you get shatterproof lenses with good polarization, you should be fine. But don't be one of those idiots I see driving down the interstate in regular sunglasses who're just one stray rock away from losing their vision, and, potentially, their life. For your own good, friend.

i have a oakley crosshair, i love it soo much although im sort-sighted and
a perscription oakley sound like a waste to me (so expensive), so ...yea, i like them that much tto sacrifice my vision , lol

I'm not sure I follow or agree with your logic on this one. The fact that a lens is polarized has nothing to do with how much protection it offers. A polarized lens only filters out light that is not running along a certain axis and this is useful for cutting down on glare and reflections. The light which is harmful to your eyes is UV and this can be easily blocked with specific coatings applied to the lens. I even have this coating on my everyday clear Rx lenses so these lenses provide as much protection from the sun as a similarly coated pair of sunglasses. The difference is that sunglasses block a higher percentage of visible light and, therefore, prevent the eye from getting as tired.

You're 100% correct, though about needing a shatterproof lens for motorcycle use. Better yet, use a helmet with a full face mask and visor.

The dog needed to go out so I had to cut my post above a bit short.

Further on polarized lenses:

My MAJOR hobby is shooting clay targets with a shotgun. Of all the accessories one can buy, glasses are the most important as you can't hit what you can't see. We're talking that you need the ability to see rings on a 4-1/2" disc flying 40 MPH from 40 yards away. Needless to say, there is a lot of marketing of new, "improved" products for shooting eyewear. A few years ago, there was a big push to introduce shooters to polarized lenses as the technology had finally been developed to produce such lenses in the variety of colors that shooters like. Very quickly, these lenses fell from popularity. People just couldn't see as sharply with them as they could their standard lenses, Rx or not. We're not talking one or two people either, but a sizable group.

To understand the reason for this lack of sharpness, one has to examine the way a polarized lens works. On the most basic level, a polarized lens is a venetian blind that works on the level of a wavelenght of light. If you look through a standard venetian blind on a window, you don't see the whole picture: somethings are blocked by the blinds themselves. Well, ultimately, polarized lenses do the same thing. Picture blinds running horizontally along the lens, they would block waves traveling vertically and only allow through waves traveling on the same horizontal plans as run the blinds. So, instead of toning down the amount of light which reaches the eye as a standard lens would do, a polarized lens actually blocks light from reaching the eye. Less information reaching the eye means only a less sharp image for the brain to process.

That said, however, for certain applications like fishing or driving where every last drop of ocular acuity isn't required and the ability to see into the water or to reduce eye strain is more important, polarized lenses are absolutely recommended.

I will always bow to superior knowledge, as I am no expert in this area. I read a lot and pay attention to what others say, though. Maybe the polarized lenses also come with the coatings you describe on most polarized models? I remember there being a big fuss years ago about some Oakley lenses not having adequate protection against UV and being non-polarized, which I'm pretty sure is still considered a bad thing for your eyes.

The difference between Bose and Oakleys is more the market it caters for. Both fashion and sound quality are subjective, but obviously the prior is much more than the latter. While you can talk about value in a relatively objective fashion (pun not intended) when it comes to instrumental separation, dynamics, detail, with fashion it's much harder if not impossible.

Given that though, does Oakleys actually offer superior build quality, or anything significant to differentiate it from its endless supply of knockoffs? My understanding is that here in Australia we have mandated UV standards for all sunnies now, so they're all roughly equally as good at blocking out harmful light.

Nope, it is the lens material (and possibly coatings) that affects UV-blocking ability and safety for your eyes. Polarized lenses are not necessarily safer or more dangerous than non-polarized lenses. Depends on the lens material.

Now, cheap (especially knock-off) lenses may be (mis)labeled as UV-protective but in fact let through a lot of UV light. Cheap/knockoff lenses do this because the manufactures are ignant or unscrupulous. Mislabeled lenses leads to a dangerous situation as your eyes dilate to adjust to the darkness behind the lenses (visible light is blocked, obviously), but this dilation allows more harmful (unblocked) UV light to enter your eye. Blocking UV is pretty easy with modern lens technology and coatings...I can't imagine Oakley has had problems with this in recent history, but maybe Oakley knock-offs were a problem? I know I've seen 'em.

Any tinted lens from any decent manufacturer whether polarized or not will be UV coated and probably 100% of polarized lenses from good manufacturers are coated.

I can't comment on Oakley's history as I don't pay much attention to OEM lenses as I have to replace them with my Rx. That they might not have been sufficiently coated for UV protection would have been a cause for concern. That they weren't (and still aren't necessarily) polarized isn't a big deal.

Omega is actually correct that the material of the lens plays a part in UV blocking. Glass will block a greater percentage of UV light than plastic so the coatings are even more important on plastic lenses.

Do this for fun if you are interested: take an old pair of polarized sunglasses and pop one of the lenses out (don't hold me responsible for damage!). Hold the one lens in front of the other oriented in the same direction and look through. You can still see through it, though darker because of the extra tint. Now rotate the lenses so that they are offset by 90 degrees. The combo will go completely opaque. One lens is blocking all of the light traveling along one axis and the other lens blocks light on the other axis. So, literally, a polarized lens BLOCKS light whereas a standard tinted lens attenuates light. But, it is not the amount of light that reaches your eye that causes damage to the eye, it is the type of light and you want to block as much, if not all, UV light from reaching your eye.

Oakley - FEATURED PRIVATE PILOT

I remember reading about it a few years ago.

I bought a Serengeti Verona. It has photochromic and polarized brown glass lenses. Brown has better contrast but I should get green next time.

Interesting, that's good info Leftnose. I may try that as soon as my girlfriend destroys a pair of hers. Which will be inevitably be soon.

Maui Jim Moku, about 3 yrs old. This is an old picture. After 3 years of use and many drops there are now some scratches on the lenses

Maui Jim's customer service is the best I have ever dealt with, for any type of company. My girlfriend just gave her Ray Bans away to a family member that loved them, so now we're looking for new sunglasses for her. I'm really pushing for Maui Jim.. their optics and customer service are the best.

If you have two pairs of polarized sunglasses you don't even need to pop out the lens.. just wear one pair and hold the other pair in front of you and rotate it!